English, baby!

either of !!

Date: Nov 06 2007

Author: alshehri2005

Lesson

We use both/neither/either for two things. You can use these words with a noun (both books, neither book etc.).

For example, you are talking about going out to eat this evening. There are two restaurants where you can go. You say:

· Both restaurants are very good. (not ‘ the both restaurants’).

· Neither restaurant is expensive.

· We can go to either restaurant. I don’t mind. ( either=one or the other, it doesn’t matter which one)

Both of... / neither of…/ either of…

When we use both/neither/either + of, you always need the …/ these/ those…/ my/ yours/ his/ Tom’s…. (etc.). You cannot say ‘both of restaurants’. You have to say ‘both of the restaurants’, ‘both of those restaurants’ etc. :

· Both of these restaurants are very good.

· Neither of the restaurants we went to was (or were) expensive.

· I haven’t been to be either of those restaurants. (= I haven’t been to one or the other)

You don’t need of after both. So you can say:

· Both my parents are from London. or Both of my parents….

You can use both of / neither of / either of + us/you/them:

· (talking to two people) Can either of you speaking Spanish?

· I asked two people the way to the station but neither of them knew.

You must say ‘both of’ before us/you/them (of is necessary):

· Both of us were very tired. (not ‘ Both us were…’)

After neither of... a singular or a plural verb is possible:

· Neither of the children wants ( or want) to go to bed.

You can also use both/neither/either alone:

· I couldn’t decide which of the two shirts to buy. I liked both. ( or I liked both of them. )

· ‘Is your friend British or American?’ ‘Neither. She’s Australian.’

· ‘Do you want tea or coffee?’ ‘Either. I don’t mind.’

You can say: Both… and…:

· Both Sara and Abdullah were late.

· I was both tired and hungry when I arrived home.

Neither ….nor…:

· Neither Ali nor Omer came to the party.

· She said she would contact me but she neither wrote nor phoned.

Either… or…:

· I’m not sure where he’s from. He’s either Arabic or Italian.

· Either you apologies or I’ll never speak to you again.

Compare either/neither/both (two things) and any/none/all (more than two):

· There are two good hotels in the town. You can stay at either of them.

· There are many good hotels in the town. You can stay at any of them.

· We tried two hotels. Neither of them had any rooms. / Both of them were full.

· We tried a lot of hotels. None of them had any rooms. / All of them were full.

English Grammar in Use by Raymond Murphy .............It ‘s so nice !

Comments

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mosvi

Chile

thank you very much for giving us such a necessary things

Chris529

China

so good!it's very useful!thanks!

转身撞到现实

China

Thank you very much

dragstar

Turkey

thanks. very useful writing that you wrote.

Najeeb_saeedi

Afghanistan

Really it is very to differniate between both words.

Thanks for lesson

choudhry

Pakistan

Great budy, its great

windy.han

China

I think is useful to me,and I am green-hand in english,so I am thankful

wsfloraiu

Macao

thanks a lot, I know the difference.

blue and mutineer

Turkey

thank you so much

NAB

Pakistan

great work.

zhang1999

China

thank you!

bros

Cambodia

it's very good all the student that want to know the way of it.

files1107

Colombia

it is very interesting for learn, besides i almost didn`t know

meinv&mogui

China

very good

abdul rub

India

It is a very good website where one can accumulate many things and can enhance his speaking skills this web site helps for the learners as well as the learned.